Family of Stephon Clark responds after California prosecutors tell NFL to take down PSA

A week after the National Football League released a public service announcement about the killing of Stephon Clark as part of an anti-racism campaign, California prosecutors are asking the league to pull the video because they say it “misrepresents the facts” about Clark’s March 2018 shooting death at the hands of Sacramento police.

The 94-second video is narrated by Se’Quette Clark, Stephon’s mother, lauding her son and describing some of the changes in law enforcement policy in Sacramento and California since Clark, an unarmed 22-year-old Black man, was killed by two officers who later said they thought he was holding a handgun.

“What the world lost was a living example of someone doing the right thing in their day-to-day life,” Se’Quette Clark says on the video.

But the California District Attorneys Association, in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, pushed back on that sentiment, writing that “the video misrepresents the facts of this tragic incident” and noting that two legal reviews of the shooting found it to be justified.

Clark was shot to death in the backyard of his grandparents’ Meadowview home after running from police who were investigating reports of a car burglar.

“Helicopter footage and other physical evidence established that Mr. Clark committed several crimes including car burglary, vandalism and an attempted residential burglary,” wrote El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, CDAA’s current president. “Mr. Clark was running from officers when he entered the backyard of his grandmother and took a shooting stance and advanced on officers who believed he had a gun.

“These findings were supported by the helicopter video and body worn cameras. Officers were unaware that Mr. Clark was in the backyard of his family member. The autopsy of Mr. Clark revealed that he was under the influence of multiple drugs at the time of his death.”

The letter also notes that “less than 48 hours prior to the events that took his life, Mr. Clark was involved in a domestic violence incident with the mother of his children rendering him suicidal.”

“We would respectfully ask that you reexamine the factual findings of Stephon Clark’s death and produce a video that accurately depicts the conduct of all concerned in an officer involved shooting,” Pierson added.

Clark family outraged over letter

The NFL did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, and Stevante Clark, Stephon Clark’s brother, who has become an outspoken leader in protests against police use of force against Black citizens and others, could not immediately be reached.

In a news conference Wednesday in front the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, members of the Clark family said they disagreed with the DA group’s letter, saying it continues to “assassinate the character” of Stephon Clark.

“The District Attorney’s Office is trying to make a mockery and discredit my brother’s legacy,” Stevante Clark said. “This is not something that is new to us.”

“It’s been a smear campaign from the start,” he added.

“Stephon’s PSA, his public service announcement, is the fifth one the NFL and Roc Nation have put out,” Se’Quette Clark said. “And in the history of them putting these out, no other district attorneys have contradicted, or attempted to assassinate, or have taken down these PSAs. What this shows to me is that they’re afraid of the truth coming out.

“What this shows to me is that they are trying to justify their actions.”

Campaign to raise awareness about racism, use of force

The public service announcement, entitled Stephon Clark’s Legacy/#EveryonesChild, is one in a series aimed at raising awareness about systemic racism and police use of force, and comes as the nation is grappling with national protests sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

The Stephon Clark case was a precursor to Floyd’s death, but spawned similar, worldwide protests after video footage of the shooting was released by Sacramento police.

Marchers demonstrated throughout Sacramento for more than a year, shutting down freeway traffic, the Arden Fair mall, Sacramento Kings games and entire swaths of downtown as angry protesters demanded the two officers be fired and face criminal charges.

But Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, in separate reviews of the incident, both found the shooting justified and did not take action against the officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet.

In addition, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento conducted their own review and came to the same conclusion.

Police said after the shooting that the object the officers mistook for a gun was a cell phone.

Since the shooting, Sacramento police have changed a number of policies about use of force and pursuit tactics, and have submitted to a review by the attorney general’s office that recommended a number of changes in policy.

Despite that, Sacramento police still face criticism, with the American Civil Liberties Union saying the department still is not fully complying with a new state law — the “Stephon Clark law” — that allows for the use of deadly force only “when necessary in defense of human life.”

The city says the department is in compliance.

Sacramento agreed last year to pay out $2.4 million to Clark’s children to settle part of a civil rights lawsuit filed by his family.

This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 3:50 PM.